Caterpillar Unveils MD6200 Rotary Drill in Texas

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Published: Monday, 22 October 2018 12:36

Written by Rock Products News

During a customer and dealer event held at Caterpillar’s drills production facility in Denison, Texas, the company unveiled its smallest rotary blasthole drill, the MD6200. Rock Products Associate Editor Josephine Patterson was among the 200+ participants in attendance for the drill’s debut.

The versatile MD6200 is designed to perform rotary or DTH drilling in single-pass or multi-pass modes and can drill holes of 127 to 200 mm (5.0 to 7.87 in.) in diameter. The MD6200 also offers the ability to drill at a negative angle up to 15 degrees, which enables matching the slope of the highwall for pre-split drilling. The result is cleaner highwalls with less waste material going to downstream operations. For traditional production drilling, the mast can tilt from vertical out to 30 degrees. The operator can adjust the mast angle in increments of 5 degrees from the touchscreen in the cab – with no special setup required.

The MD6200 can be transported over the road with the mast on, so it can simply roll onto a truck when it’s time to move to another site. Caterpillar noted that the new drill also has the smallest shipping envelope of any drill in its class. In some configurations, parts outside the shipping envelope can be removed without the use of lifting tools, allowing two people to prepare it by hand for shipping.

A Cat C18 engine powers the drill and is rated to meet the needs of any mine site. It is available in Tier 4 Final configuration and in Tier 2 equivalent configuration to suit regional needs. The Cat power train delivers high efficiency and reliability. Both high pressure and low-pressure compressor configurations offer variable volume air control, perfectly matching the compressor output to the drill tool and application needs. The system also lowers stand-by pressures while the machine is idle, further improving fuel efficiency.

With Product Link Elite, drill health metrics are easy to download, and managers can track drill performance in real time. The MD6200 electronics also provide a platform for automated controls. Drill Assist offers a number of automated functions, including auto level, auto retract jacks, auto raise and lower mast and auto drill. The drill depth monitoring system helps to reduce over- and under-drilling – to optimize productivity and fragmentation.

The MD6200 is also ready for Cat Terrain for drilling, which uses state-of-the-art guidance technologies to help operators drill holes in the exact location and specified by the plan, resulting in smoother, safer and more efficient blasting.